I often find myself spending my coaching time challenging people to look at the things they are avoiding or fearful of; a lot of that is looking at limiting beliefs and how much of what we tell ourselves is stopping us from achieving new things, or being a person with talents or choices.
Money or finances is all around us at the moment; it is unavoidable- good or bad. So if, like me, you have a limiting belief that ‘you are not good with money’, this month why not walk with me through the process of challenging those thoughts and becoming someone who is good with money.
Money, Money, Money - must be funny…
Part of moving forward through change is knowing where you are now and how you got to that point. The way we feel about key aspects of our lives often stems from the values passed on from our upbringing.
Take a look at the people who had influence on you in your life- how does their attitude towards money reflect yours? Look also at what is happening around you now that is influencing your current thinking.
… in a rich man’s world?
How much of your view on money and finance is governed by your comparison to others - those with different jobs or qualifications? Many of our worries are not unfounded but can be caused by ‘the Jones’. Keeping in pace with those around us (celebrity/ fame/ wealth) is not really the reality of the Jones’.
We also spend a lot of our money worries thinking that having enough will make us happy. However, in these current times where we have more disposable income than ever before, more financial freedom and increased access to income, we are no happier than we were 50 years ago!
We are also working increasingly longer hours and are consumed by a culture of ‘spend and acquire’- a destructive cycle with no end. It appears that the more we use money to strive for happiness, the less contented we get. So how much is enough to make us happy? And should we even be looking to money for a sense of fulfillment?
Tips and Hints on being "good with money"
It is thought that we have 70 000 thoughts per day and 50 000 of them are repeated - with 80% of those thoughts negative! Try and think back to when you first remember thinking that money or numbers weren’t ‘your thing’. By taking a comment or certain event on board in our past and carrying it through our lives, we unnecessarily become defined by that thought. By repeating it through our lives, it becomes even more reinforced behaviour.
It’s time to turn that thought and your behaviour on its head. By capturing those negative thoughts and changing them to the positive, you can begin to override your previous patterns of thinking. Imagine the impact on your life of having 40 000 positive thoughts a day!
- Get to the truth
Ask yourself - were you really that bad? Was it one test score? One bad answer? One mistake? What was the context of the comment, thought or situation? In the light of day, as an adult, can you see yourself taking so much to heart now? - Get real
What if you decide today that is not the case- what would ‘being good with money’ look like? Picture yourself being that person and start to make it real. - Get to the point
What role do you want money to have in your life? What does money mean to you? Define how much you want this to rule your life. - Get a fresh perspective
Try and get a different perspective by thinking: what do I have in my life that money can’t change? What I am grateful for that isn’t affected by money. By placing emphasis and importance elsewhere, the money threat or fear of inadequacy can diminish. - Get your head out of the sand
Don’t play ostrich - get it all out in the open and have a good look at your situation- good, the bad and the ugly. You can’t start to be good at something if you don’t come prepared. - Get help
Budgeting advice, financial advice, goal setting: sometimes we all need a helping hand to get on the right track. Isn’t better to get help when you need it and start improving your money savvy than stay forever with an ill-fitting label? - Get going
Act like you are ‘good with money’ and it’s a trick of the mind - half the work is done for you. Just like when you change the limiting belief into a positive, by pretending you are already what you want to be, you make your goal more accessible.
Trackback(0)
TrackBack URI for this entryComments (0)
Subscribe to this comment's feed
